SoftBank increasing Sprint stake after T-Mobile deal called off

The proposed tie-up between two American telecom giants was formally called off this weekend.

Sprint and T-Mobile had been negotiations for months but ultimately decided not to go forward with a deal.

“The companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms,” the businesses announced in a joint press release Saturday.

Last week, reports suggested that the deal was on the verge of falling through due to SoftBank Group-owned Sprint’s concerns about maintaining ownership control. 

Both Sprint and T-Mobile stocks traded down on the news.

Now SoftBank, which already owns about 82% of Sprint, plans to increase its stake to up to 85%.

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Group and Chairman of Sprint, said in a statement that, “we are entering an era where billions of new connected devices and sensors will come online throughout the United States.   Continuing to own a world class mobile network is central to our vision of ubiquitous connectivity.:

This isn’t the first time that a potential merger between Sprint and T-Mobile fell through. The two came close in 2014, but called the deal off because of regulatory concerns.

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